Commitments to green schemes may be bubbling away on the back burner as businesses concentrate on surviving the recession intact but becoming more environmentally friendly can be a vital marketing tool that can also cut costs. Karen Dent discovers why Dame Ellen MacArthur will be in South Shields to support the sustainable business agenda.

The event is part of South Tyneside Business Week and aims to stimulate companies into action by looking at practical green money-saving ideas they can implement.

Mr Watts said: “Because of the current economic climate, a lot of business is struggling and we want to show how they can use the environment to be more effective. We thought this was a good time to do something to promote it. We’re trying to offer practical advice as well as longer term planning.”

He reckons the first issue businesses should consider is where their waste ends up.

“If you can recycle your products and you are not sending them to landfill, you cut your waste costs,” said Mr Watts.

“If it’s going in the general skip, try to get it recycled. We run collection services here for plastic, card and paper.

“The second would be to look at what you are purchasing, with bulk purchase or green products. We are saving about 30%. It’s really about sourcing the products. Some people think green products are more expensive. If you source them from the right companies, you can get them for at least the same price.”

Energy bills are also high on the agenda. Groundwork recently carried out an environmental audit of a Newcastle company’s heating costs and found that an investment in green equipment would result in major savings over the next decade. It will take around three to four years to pay for the new system.

Groundwork itself has a wind turbine, which it uses to power its building and sells the excess energy it produces to the National Grid. Government low carbon building grants are available for micro-power generation and businesses can also secure decent deals from green energy suppliers for their gas and electric.

Mr Watts is also keen to promote environmental management systems, such as the ISO14001 accreditation which Groundwork itself is in the process of applying for.

He said: “It’s good for marketing – you can sell yourself that you have this environmental standard, it is beginning to make a difference.

“A lot of local authority procurement asks do you have environmental management systems. It’s continually reviewing and improving your systems. You many not want to go for the ISO14001. It’s looking at your supply chains, how you run your business, what is the environmental impact and what can you do.

“If you do an audit – this is how we’re doing and this is what we want to achieve – and come up with an action plan.”

In addition to Mr Watts and Dame Ellen, John Short from Harlow Printing and Deborah Evans and Hillary Woolard of Tedco will be speaking at the event.

:: Businesses interested in attending should register at by emailing: bt.south.tyneside@bt.com